Session 3C: Young, Brown, Ambitious: How Three Young Women Kept Their New Mexico Libraries Alive in 2020 and Beyond
Event Type
Panel
Location
U-Hall Classroom 3304
Track
Mentoring; Public Libraries
Start Date
21-7-2023 2:25 PM
End Date
21-7-2023 3:25 PM
Description
Berdina Nieto, former Reader Advisor (Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, New Mexico State Library), current Rural Outreach Specialist/Books by Mail Librarian (New Mexico State Library), Raquel Martinez, Former Children and Teen Librarian (Taos Public Library), current Head Librarian (Taos Public Library) and Kate Alderete, Former Library Director (Taos Public Library), current Deputy State Librarian for the State of New Mexico, will address three main topics: navigating the library world and our contributions to the way our libraries - both Special and Public – did business during the pandemic, overcoming inherent sexism and racism in the information space, and our personal struggles throughout the pandemic and how our work was changed by it. The ever-present threat of downsizing, losing patrons to COVID19, isolation, what it was like to live through the politicalization of the pandemic and the political unrest of 2020 and 2021, and dealing with the fallout will be discussed to highlight just how adaptable, resilient, and ambitious we are and how we’ve created a place at the table for ourselves and people like us. As we reflect on the fear and stress that crowded our everyday lives, we celebrate our accomplishments and our ambition, the ideas turned into actions, and the work we did through it all that led all three of us to major promotions within our own libraries and within the field. Outcomes will include an acknowledgement that our femaleness, our brownness, and our struggle, both personal and professional, have created an understanding of our profession that is intrinsic to the POC LIS community.
Outcomes
- An understanding of the role of POC in libraries during the pandemic
- Strategies, through personal experience and stories, in dealing with inherent sexism and racism in the workplace
- The worth of a) bringing POC into the library field b) encouraging POC who are already in the field to work towards promotions to gain a seat at the table c) the value to library users of having POC in decision making positions within the field.
Session 3C: Young, Brown, Ambitious: How Three Young Women Kept Their New Mexico Libraries Alive in 2020 and Beyond
U-Hall Classroom 3304
Berdina Nieto, former Reader Advisor (Library for the Blind and Print Disabled, New Mexico State Library), current Rural Outreach Specialist/Books by Mail Librarian (New Mexico State Library), Raquel Martinez, Former Children and Teen Librarian (Taos Public Library), current Head Librarian (Taos Public Library) and Kate Alderete, Former Library Director (Taos Public Library), current Deputy State Librarian for the State of New Mexico, will address three main topics: navigating the library world and our contributions to the way our libraries - both Special and Public – did business during the pandemic, overcoming inherent sexism and racism in the information space, and our personal struggles throughout the pandemic and how our work was changed by it. The ever-present threat of downsizing, losing patrons to COVID19, isolation, what it was like to live through the politicalization of the pandemic and the political unrest of 2020 and 2021, and dealing with the fallout will be discussed to highlight just how adaptable, resilient, and ambitious we are and how we’ve created a place at the table for ourselves and people like us. As we reflect on the fear and stress that crowded our everyday lives, we celebrate our accomplishments and our ambition, the ideas turned into actions, and the work we did through it all that led all three of us to major promotions within our own libraries and within the field. Outcomes will include an acknowledgement that our femaleness, our brownness, and our struggle, both personal and professional, have created an understanding of our profession that is intrinsic to the POC LIS community.
Outcomes
- An understanding of the role of POC in libraries during the pandemic
- Strategies, through personal experience and stories, in dealing with inherent sexism and racism in the workplace
- The worth of a) bringing POC into the library field b) encouraging POC who are already in the field to work towards promotions to gain a seat at the table c) the value to library users of having POC in decision making positions within the field.
